Monday, August 25, 2014

DRAWING THE LINE: Artists & Writers in Solidarity with Ferguson

Protesters autograph a sketch of Michael Brown during a protest on August 18, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. Image via voanews.com.

Artists and writers give unconditional
support to protesters in Ferguson, MO

Editorial
statement published August 19, 2014 on redwedgemagazine.com:

On
Saturday, August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri (just outside St. Louis), Michael
Brown, an unarmed eight-teen year old African American man, was shot and killed
by the police. His body was left on the street for more than four hours as riot
police were called to the scene.

In the
following days thousands of people have protested the latest summary execution
of an unarmed Black man. They have been met with police brutality and
repression, resulting in dozens of arrests, including the arrests of two
reporters and a police assault on one St. Louis city alderman.

The
apologists for racism attempted to use the justified and understandable outrage
of those who burned a local convenience store to obscure the real criminals in
Ferguson: police and politicians who treat the town’s Black citizens like
colonial subjects; occupied by military force.

The
apologists for racism have aimed to obscure the ongoing wounds being inflicted
on working-class and poor African Americans by pretending this is all a
misunderstanding; a hangover from days long gone. It is not. These are not
merely old wounds. These are new wounds. The wounding has never stopped.

We are
artists and writers who, without equivocation of any kind, condemn
the police murder of Michael Brown and unconditionally support
all the protesters of Ferguson and the St. Louis metro area.

We believe
that:

1. The
reported murders of African Americans, Latinxs* and other people of color, as
seen in the cases of Trayvon Martin and Israel Hernandez in Florida
and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, are just the most shocking and visible
signs of a campaign of systematic harassment and violence.

2. This is
connected to wider ongoing official racism directed against African Americans,
Latinxs and other people of color. This can be seen, for example, in the campaign
of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to shut down public schools in Black and Latinx*
neighborhoods.

3. It is
connected to the institutional racism that permeates every aspect of society.
African Americans experience higher unemployment, higher interest rates, higher
incarceration rates, worse health care outcomes, etc. than whites. This is NOT
due to personal or moral failures on the part of African Americans. It is the
product of the racism of white Americans, politicians, and ruling elites.

4. The
people of Ferguson have a right to resist police murder and repression by “any
means necessary.”

5. Liberal
calls for “peace and unity” in the St. Louis metro area are a mirage. There can
be no peace without justice. The status quo is not peace. The status quo is a
war on Black men and women.

Artists,
musicians and writers have a responsibility to stand squarely with the
protesters and rebels of Ferguson, Missouri. Art is an empathetic enterprise.
We cannot, in good conscience, make art or write about art and ignore what is
happening. We promise to stand, however we can, with the people of Ferguson. We
encourage all others to do the same.